Ukraine – Iceland. Prediction and announcement for the World Cup qualifying match

The Ukraine-Iceland meeting will take place on Monday, November 14, in Riga. The fight begins at 16:00 Kyiv time. The match will be broadcast live on Xsport TV channel.

Last Friday, the Ainars Bagatskis team confidently defeated the Netherlands in the first of their fifth qualifying window duo for the 2023 World Cup. But given the tournament situation of our team, it was one of the easiest steps for the “blue-yellows” in terms of correcting their position. Now our team is faced with a more difficult task. Ukraine has to beat Iceland and it would be highly desirable to do so by four points or more.

August 27th this year was a dark date for Ukrainian basketball. Our team suffered one of the most painful defeats in its history today. In overtime, Iceland team beat our team with two NBA representatives on the roster – 91:88. The islanders did not offer the Ukrainians anything extraordinary, but our numerous mistakes and the incomprehensible coaching decisions of Ainars Bagatskis (for example, NBA center Oleksiy Len spent the entire second half of the game and overtime on the bench) made our team an unexpected defeat. However, the sensational raid of this fiasco is not so bad, it was the failure in distant Iceland that greatly worsened our chances of exceeding qualifications, and now it hangs like the sword of Damocles over the Ukrainian team.

To slightly improve the situation, Ukraine has to beat Iceland by a final margin of four points or more. Then, in the potential final turn between the three teams (Georgia, Iceland and Ukraine), it is our team that will gain an advantage over two opponents at the same time and place them in third place, giving them the right to travel to Asia. However, before this final turn, quite a lot of conditions must coincide.

Iceland is lucky in Riga, which has become a real home of Ukrainian basketball after the start of a full-scale Russian invasion, pretty much the same squad that beat the Blue-Yellows in August. There are two good basketball players by European standards (defender Elvar Fridriksson from Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius and Big Man Triggvi Hlinasson from Spain’s Zaragoza). Almost all the other players represent the Icelandic championship and do not have outstanding playing skills, but each one knows well their place, role and function in the national team. The potential leader of Iceland and the main star of the local team from the Spanish “Valencia” Martin Hermansson continues to heal from the injury.

It is worth noting that last Friday Iceland lost their most important home match against Georgia 85:88. And now, looking at the schedule of the remaining matches, the Caucasian team has the most chances for third place in our group.

It is noteworthy that the meeting started very early – at 16:00 on weekdays. This is because FIBA ​​has decided to fit all the matches of the game round into one calendar day, and after our duel the Latvian and England national teams still have to step up to the Arena Riga floor.

No less important match for all fans of Ukrainian basketball on Monday will be another match in our group. Georgia will host Italy at home, and this is the first of a series of challenges that must end with the result we need, and it will be a victory for Gianmarco Pozzeco’s team alone.

However, the Blue-Yellows must complete their part of the quest. A confident win over Iceland will increase tournament chances for Ukraine and at least will not turn the final qualifying window into an empty formality for the Ainars Bagatskis team. But it will be in February, but for now, with the right score, we support the victory of the Ukrainian team and count on the tournament help of the Italians.

Sport.ua forecast: Victory of the Ukrainian team

14 November

Ukraine – Iceland

Spain – Netherlands

Georgia – Italy

1.47 12 2.85 make a bet zrobbite bet

1:50 12 2.80 make a bet zrobbite bet

1.47 12 2.86 make a bet zrobbite bet